5 ms·

Products that are not Laptop, Desktop or Server x64 CPUs at Intel are cut with extreme prejudice when the bean counters look at them roughly 6 months to 1 year

Products that are not Laptop, Desktop or Server x64 CPUs at Intel are cut with extreme prejudice when the bean counters look at them roughly 6 months to 1 year after initial announcement and realize "hey these are not i7 margins". It's incredibly damaging to everything they do. You can't cut a chip platform that your customers literally solder into embedded products with an announcement 3 months before last order.

mschuster91 9y ago
Yeah, they did the same with their IoT products. My former roommate had to use one for an university project and he was seriously pissed because it was of not a very high quality, so there may be a connection...
wyldfire 9y ago
For designers who need to be able to order products for a long time, Intel does offer an embedded design roadmap. But, ultimately you're just paying higher prices to get them to carry inventory instead of you. ;) IIRC that roadmap is definitely available for super high margin Xeons. I'd be kinda surprised if they didn't have some Atom SKUs on there though.
cwyers 9y ago
> Intel asks its customers to place their final orders on the Atom x5-Z8100P SoC (belonging to the Cherry Trail family) by September 30 and says that the final shipments will be made on October 30. Given the fact that Intel seems to have only one customer using the microprocessor, the short amount of time between the announcement of the product discontinuance and the actual EOL was probably negotiated before. Moreover, since we are talking about a semi-custom chip, Microsoft was probably the initiator of the EOL, which indicates that the company is on track with its next-gen HoloLens.
stephengillie 9y ago
From the article: Given the fact that Intel seems to have only one customer using the microprocessor, the short amount of time between the announcement of the product discontinuance and the actual EOL was probably negotiated before. They worked it out with MS a whole ago, and are only now announcing this product, which they will sell to literally nobody, is discontinued.

mschuster91 9y ago

Yeah, they did the same with their IoT products. My former roommate had to use one for an university project and he was seriously pissed because it was of not a very high quality, so there may be a connection...

wyldfire 9y ago

For designers who need to be able to order products for a long time, Intel does offer an embedded design roadmap. But, ultimately you're just paying higher prices to get them to carry inventory instead of you. ;) IIRC that roadmap is definitely available for super high margin Xeons. I'd be kinda surprised if they didn't have some Atom SKUs on there though.

cwyers 9y ago

> Intel asks its customers to place their final orders on the Atom x5-Z8100P SoC (belonging to the Cherry Trail family) by September 30 and says that the final shipments will be made on October 30. Given the fact that Intel seems to have only one customer using the microprocessor, the short amount of time between the announcement of the product discontinuance and the actual EOL was probably negotiated before. Moreover, since we are talking about a semi-custom chip, Microsoft was probably the initiator of the EOL, which indicates that the company is on track with its next-gen HoloLens.

stephengillie 9y ago

From the article: Given the fact that Intel seems to have only one customer using the microprocessor, the short amount of time between the announcement of the product discontinuance and the actual EOL was probably negotiated before. They worked it out with MS a whole ago, and are only now announcing this product, which they will sell to literally nobody, is discontinued.